Locomotive washout and refilling system.



11W. MLLER. LOGOMOTIVE WASHOUT AND BEFILLING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FIVLEDJUN'E 7, 1907.

Patented Sept. 21, 1909.

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F. W. MILLER. V LOGOMOTIVE WASHOUT AND REFILLING SYSTEM.

' .AFPLIUAIIOH FILED JUNE 7, 1907.

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FRANK W. MILLER, OF CHICAG, LLINOIS.

LOCOMTIVEWASHQUT AND REFILLING SYSTEM.

heat the feed water and the washout water.

. It is necessary that locomotives should, at frequent intervals, beentirely blown out to remove the' foul water, and then washed to freethem from sludge and scale, after which they are filled with freshwater. These opera-tions are performed at Ithe roundhouses between thetrips of the locomotives. It is desirable that-the washout water shouldbe hot in order to more quickly and thoroughly clean the boilersandalsovto prevent injury through unevencontraction of the plates and tubeswhich occurs when Coldwater is used to wash out. It is also desirablethat the feed water should be heated in order to save'the time and fuelnecessary to convert cold water into steam. It has, therefore, beenproposed to impart the heat of the discharged fluids to the washoutwater and feed water, thereby through the utilization of heat whichwould otherwise be' wasted, econoinizing in theitime required in washingout and refilling locomotive boilers, and sav, ing'in the .consumptionof fuelnecessary to generate steam. y It is further desirable not onlyto utilize the heat of thedischarged fluids, but also to vuse thedischarged fluids themselves to furnish the washout water and to supplypart of the feed water, thereby resulting in a great saving of wateranda consequent reduction in the expense incident to refillinglocomotive boilers..

The primary object of my invention is to provide a system for washingout and refilling locomotive boilers in which not only ythcheat 'ofdischarged fluid from the boilers,

but thefiuids themselves, will be utilized to the fullest possibledegree, thereby reducing to a minimum the time and expense necessary toperforming the operations of discharging the foul water, cleaning outthe boilers and refilling them with fresh feed water.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pggegutigd Sept, 21, '1999.

Application filed June 7, 1907.

seran no. eran/a A further object of my invention is to utili-ze thedrainage water which accumulates in the roundhouse pit to reduce to thedesired temperature washout water derived' from the boiler discharged,thereby obviating the necessity offresh cold water being mixed with thewashout water to reduce the temperature thereof.

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawing, in whichl Figure l is a diagrammatic viewillustrating my improved system; Fig. 2 an elevational view, part-sbeingshown in vertical section; and Fig. 3an enlarged vertical section online 8, 3 Fig. l.

Reference character A. indicates a portion of a roundhouse, whilereference characters a to as' indicate the pits in the roundhousev overwhich the locomotives are located while being washed out land refilled.

B indicates ay conduit extending within the roundhouse adjacent to theseveral pitsand with which the locomotive boilers are connectedy todischarge the steam and foul water therefrom. A coupling, such asindicated'at b, is provided between the adjacent pits and communicatingwith the blowout conduit B, so that the locomotives above the severalpits may be connected with the blow-out conduit. B indicates a branchconduit extending from the blow-out conduit .B and communicating with afeed water heater G; The feed water heater may be ofany suitableconstruction, and is shown as comprising headers g and g2 with which are.connected tubes g through which the discharge'4 fluids pass. After thefluids pass through the tubes g of the. heater, the steam passes throughthe conduit Hf which terminates in a( plurality of perforated pipes itlocated within a closed reservoir K. A conduit K2 communicates with theinterior of the reservoir K for supplying fresh water to the interiorthereof, the supply of fresh water being automatically controlled by thelevel of the water within the reservoir through any suitable floatvalve, such as indicated at 7c.' The steam passing through theperforations in the pipes 7i. into contact with the fresh water in thereservoirK is to a large extent condensed, thereby formingaa part `ofthe feed water. Thefeed water so formed is drawn from 'the reservoir Kthrough the conduit lc by i. pump K', of v any suitable construction,and is forced by the pump through the conduit Gto the space within theheater G around-the tubes g.

The feed water passes from the heater G through the branched 'conduit Cto the conduit U, which is located within the roundhouse and extendsadjacent the several pits therein. Branch pipes c communicate with theconduit C` and are located between the several pits. In order tosuperheat thev feed water, the branch lconduit C and conduit C arelocated within the branch conduit B and conduit B through which thedischarged iiu'ids pass from the boilers. If de- CFI siren, the exhaust'steam from the pump engines and air compressor usually employed in aroundhouse may be passed throughv` the heater G, and for this purpose abranch -conduit Zn communicates with the blow-out branch conduit B. Feedwater may, if desired, be supplied from the heaterv G through a conduitC3 to the usual ystationary boiler employed in a roundhouse.

In order to keep the feed water in continual circulation through theheater G, a

return conduit@2 leads f romthev conduit C and communicates with theheater G, a pump c2 being located in the branch conduit G2 to maintainthe circulation of the feed water through the hea-ter and therebymaintain it at a high temperature at all times. The branch conduit C2 ispreferably divided so as to extend from the opposite ends of the conduitC and thereby keep the feed water in circulation throughout the conduitG.

The discharged liquids, from which the steam has separated, iiow fromthe heater G through the conduit H2 to a reservoir M in which is locateda series of perforated pipes Z with which a conduit. L communicates,such conduit leading from\the top of the reservoir K and conveying tothe interior of `the reservoir M the steam which is uncondensed by thewater in the reservoir K, such surplus steam, therefore, servingto addto the volume of the filtei'ed discharge liquid in the reservoir M. 'Thewater in the reservoir M is used to wash out the boilers of thelocomotives after the foul water has been blown out. A pump M, of anysuitable construction, draws the washout water from i located within thereservoir M through the conduit m and forces the same through thebranch.v conduit D, which communicates with a conduit D the roundhouseand extending adjacent the several pits. therein. Pipes d communicatewith the conduit D and are located between the pits in the roundhouse.The washout water used in a Aroundhouse is ordinarily allowed to flow toa pit a and to then be discharged to a sewer. By my improved system thisdrainage water is purilied-and then used to reduce the tempera.- ture of.the washout water. To this end I` provide a conduit P leading from thepit a of the roundhouse to a filter P', of any suitable construction,from which the drainage water' flows to a reservoir O, such reservoirbeing provided with an overflow pipe 0.' The purifieddrainage water isdrawnfrom the reservoir O by a pump O through the conduit o, and thenforced through the branch conduit E toa conduit E located within theroundhouse and extending adjacent the several lpits therein. Pipes ecommunicate with the conduit E and are located between the several pits.

The pipes c, Z and e between the adjacent pits are provided with valvesand all communicate with a common `outlet pipe F, which is also providedwith a valve. outlet pipe F is adapted to be connected with the boilerof the locomotive above either of the adjacent pits, -and by adjustingthe valves in the pipes c, d and e, feed watermay be supplied to theboilers, or washout water, or a combination of washout water andpurified drainage water, so that the tem-l perature ofthe washout watermay be reduced to the desired degree.

The sludge and scale are discharged from the feed water heater G throughpipes R and R2 leading from the Aopposite ends of the heater, suchdischarge pipes, preferably, communicating with a common pipe R lead-`ing to the sewer. Valves r1 r2 are provided in the discharge pipes R andR2, so that the sludge and scale may be discharged from the ,oppositeends of the heater.

From the foregoing' description, it will be observed that I haveinvented an improved system' for discharging, washing out and refillinglocomotive boilers, by means of which not only the-heat of thedischarged fluids is fully utilized, but also the discharged uidsthemselves, the steam being condensed through contact with fresh waterto form the feed water, the discharged liquids being used for washoutwater and the drainage water being purified and then utilized. to reducethe-washout water to the desired temperature. It will also be evidentthat in my improved system the feed water is not only heated by thedischarged steam condensed therewith but also by being passed throughthefeed water heater and thence within the conduit through which thefluidsThe passed are discharged from the boilers. It will fur- 'I ther beobserved that. in my improved system the feed water is kept in constantcirculation through the heater, soas to be at all times at the highestpossible temperature for use in refilling the boilers. l/Vhile I haveillustrated and described my invention as applied to discharging,cleaning and refilling the boilers .of locomotives, yet it willv beunderstood that my invention is applicable to stationary boilers, and I,therefore, do not wish to bel understood as limiting my invention in itsapplication to locomotive roundhouses.

Having now fully described lmy invention, what I claim as new and deslreto secure by Letters Patent, is v l. In an apparatus for discharging,cleaning and relilling boilers, the combination with means' forseparating the. discharged steamy from the discharged liquid, of meansfor utilizing out water, inea-ns for passing the discharged steamthrough fresh feed water, and means for mingling the steam risinguncondensed from the feed Water with the washout Water.

n 2. In an apparatus for discharging, cleaning, and refillingboilersguhe combination with means for separating. the discharged steamfrom the discharged liquid, of means for utilizing the discharged liquidias Washout water, means'for passing the discharged steam -through freshfeed water, meansv for mingling the steam rising' uncondensed from thefeed Water With the washoutwater, and

the discharged liquid as wash-ll means 'for conducting the feed Water tothe' boiler through, without mingling it with, the4 fluidsdischargedfrom the boiler.

3. In an apparatus for discharging, cleaning, and refilling boilers, thecombination with means for sepa-rating the discharged steam from thedischarged liquid, of' means forv utilizingthe discharged liquid asWashl out' Water, means for passing the discharged steam through freshfeed water, means for mingling the steam rising uncondensed from l l thefeed water with the washout water, means for conducting the feed watersoformed' through, without mingling it With, the dis'- charged fluids, and,means for nall surrounding the feed Water while passing to the boilerwith the discharged fluids passing '40 FRANKW. MILLER.-

